Coach's Playbook

Listen to the experts and elevate your game.

Amanda Ozaki-Laughon — originally a high school debate champ from California’s Central Valley, and now Concordia Irvine’s director of debate — has been part of CUI’s forensics program for seven years as the squad has risen from obscurity to become a national powerhouse.

CUI's director of forensics, Yaw Kyeremateng, was named the 2018 Outstanding Coach of the Year at the American Forensics Association National Individual Events Tournament, a high honor for someone who helped build Concordia Irvine’s speech team from scratch.

At this year’s National Speech tournament, senior Diego Perez advanced beyond preliminary rounds in four events and finished ranked #10 nationally. He is one reason CUI’s speech team is edging closer to the kind of national stature and dominance that the debate team has enjoyed as #1 or #2 in the nation for the past five years.

When creating a team culture, says Jim Kunau, Leadership and Administration and Sports Ethics assistant professor of the Masters of Coaching and Athletic Administration (MCAA) program at Concordia University Irvine, the coach’s perspective is the starting point.

According to Bill Cunerty, Philosophy of Coaching professor of the MCAA program, great communication is the bridge that links ideas, plans, goals and dreams to practical execution and the successful completion of a task.

In just six years, CUI went from having no debate program at all to having the top debate team in the country. They did it through savvy recruiting, rigorous training and a diverse team whose opposing views sharpened each other.

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Concordia University Irvine is a U.S. News Top Tier Regional University and has been named by The Chronicle of Higher Education as one of the fastest growing private nonprofit master's institutions. CUI serves nearly 4,000 students annually.